Reading blogs and surfing the knitting net can be a very dangerous thing. My stash is already somewhat out of control. So much so that my honey says to me the other day, “Don’t you think you’re getting a little obsessive with the yarn?”
I simply said “yes” and kept trucking. Of course the thing that comforts me is that my yarn stash is not nearly as bad as everybody elses. That’s what I tell myself at least.
Anyway, when I bought some sock yarn for my color swap partner the other day, of course I had to buy myself a couple of things…all sock yarn (whis is a laugh considering I haven’t even completed my first sock yet- I’m not even sure if I will! Of course I will eventually-think positive)
Anyhoo, it was all on sale, how could I resist and surely I’ll have the process down in enough time to knit a couple pairs for Christmas (mind you this is how all bad stuff starts for me).
I mean when my honey leaves for camp (which he's leaving on my birthday but I won't even go there right now) I’ll have lots of time to devote to knitting in the evenings...right?
Anyway, I wrote a song about it…here it go

description: Regia cotton sock yarn; I really liked the colors- I know it's just black and white but I like it like that

description: Lorna's Laces Superwash Wool; again I liked the colors (105 Glenwood) and it was sooooo soft and it's Lorna's Laces on sale! These will be some funky socks..(errrr, in look not in smell)

description: Fleece ArtistWool Sock yarn; color- midnight
this stuff feels like a dream

Now I have an official sock stash.
So including these, the sockatta yarn I never used and my current lorna’s laces project that should be 6, yes SIX pairs of socks that should be showing up on this baby one day soon.
The only other problem is that I know that I will binge again. I have been torturing myself looking at these yarns for weeks now.
I love the Kill Bill variegated yarn for myself (I guess I'd make socks with it-lol), the dragonfly colorway for michele’s scarf (for Christmas), and I can’t seem to decide if I’ll eventually buy the afterglow, angel, libertine, berry or velvet underground to knit the razor cami out of---who am I kidding? I want them ALL. I'd order every yarn in every colorway if I could. I think I need help.

This morning me and my honey got up and ran together again. We ran 2 miles and I ran it in 23 minutes and 9 seconds. That’s a little more than 11 1/2 minutes a mile. I know for some of y’all that is chump change but to me I feel really good over it. I believe when I first started running it was almost 15 minutes for a mile.
I have to admit I’ve been worried about this competition because I’ve been on the diet for almost 4 weeks and haven’t seen much change—well actually I believe I’ve lost 10 pounds which wouldn’t be bad at all by typical standards but I am busting my tail to cut. I have 11 weeks and I’m fearing I won’t make it. I didn’t stick to my diet hard core last week either so I feel like I wasted precious time recouping mentally from the weigh in from the previous week.
Nevertheless, I’ve been getting comments on the progress that I’m making and I’m feeling more and more committed and strong each day. I am interested in what my body fat is because I do feel and look a lot leaner than before. My body is looking more slender (YAY!) and yesterday some girls at the gym mentioned how much I seem to be leaning out. That came at the perfect time because just earlier in the day I was lamenting to Tina about how if something major didn’t change with my body in September I was going to FREAK OUT!!!
Anyway don’t you know those girls' words rang in my head and pushed me further this morning when the run got a little tough for me. Good stuff....
I’m on my way!
BTW in knitting news: I sent out my ColorSwap package for August. I know- I’m cutting it extremely close huh? I had to admit there were a couple of items I almost kept for myself but I fought the selfish monster down and mailed the package. Now I’m excited to see how my partner likes it all! HURRY UP AND GET THERE ALREADY!!!!!

Here is the "finished" product for the MaryJanes. I say "finished" because I am still lacking the little buttons to really put this baby to rest.
Anyway, there you have it. One Christmas gift down, 20 more to go. At this rate the odds aren't looking so good!
Nevertheless, I did start this project. It's my first attempt at entreloc and I am really enjoying it. I got the pattern off of knitty.com. It is the Danica scarf. What fun, it hasn't gotten boring yet. I am using Lion Brands Cashmere Blend yarn. It's knitting up ok. Not nearly as beautiful as the Debbie Bliss obviously but still very suitable. I'm not mad at you Lion Brand...do your thing.

I've also got this little Christmas gift going as well. I don't know if it is a keeper yet honestly.The yarn is Lorna's laces; Bittersweet colorway,I think. This is my first pair of socks. I'm sure that you all recall the one start I had on a rather pathetic pair of socks with the sockatta yarn.Well, I'm at it again and I will get this down. I WILL DO THIS!!! As you can see I used my ball winder and I have a neat little couple of balls there. It's almost ridiculous how much I use that thing at this point! That was a $60 well spent. I'm working the socks from the toe up btw. I'm using these little itty bitty needles (size 1; on Pony Pearls per my sisters advice). I've actually knit and ripped these things about ten times already- my first attempts were at short row toe ups, then I cast on for a cuff down pair and didn't like the way it was looking, so then I switched back to the toe up and figured I'd do the same toe I did for the mary janes just with a starting 15 wraps (30 stitches) and work my way up to 72 (since my gauge is 8.5 per inch). I'm researching what I need to do once I reach my instep. This is all I've got so far and I'm pleased with it. I probably won't rip this out but once I get to the gusset I will be inserting a lifeline thank you very much.
I finished crocheting this little blanket (while getting my hair braided for 6 hours last Saturday; y'all know that takes forever; so I brought along my project) and amazingly I was even motivated enough to get it sent out in the mail. Isn't it cute? These pictures are before I weaved in the ends. The pattern is from Leisure Arts Sweet Baby blankets. It's called Crisscross because you crisscross all the little double crochets and make a cute little design like so>>
I used Lion Brand sports weight acrylic yarn. I used this yarn because I've had it in my stash forever (since my first nephew was born- I had originally intended to make a blanket for him out of it) and because it was cheap, and because the couple that I am sending the blanket to are hardcore vegans and do not condone any product or by product that comes from an animal. I don't know why but vegetarians and vegans are so interesting to me. I can not grasp not eating meat but I have a strange respect for non meat eaters. Maybe b/c on the inside i just can't imagine having that much self restraint or strong beliefs about not eating meat. Peoples different reasons vary from the practical to the political too and that is always interesting to hear about. Anyway, I had to really look around and make sure the "ingredients" in the yarn were ok, I guess I could have gone with cotton but I had the acrylic and it was good so I did it.

Another drive by!
I finally sent out the yarn to my Boomerang ghetto yarn pack winner! (lol). My package delivery guy says it will be there by Thursday Ms. Pinki!
On the other hand I went to mail my other package to Russia and was told it would cost me $191.00 UMMM!!?
I'll check out what rates the post office has going on there. I'll get it to you some way, some how Blackpurl. It's packaged up all nice and pretty like fo ya! :-) Updates to come...

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!

This will be a drive by posting until I actually have time to put something proper up here but I just had to.

MY SECRET SISTAH FRIEND PIMPED MY STASH!
I had already received one awesome box of goodies from my sistah when our exchange first started as you all can remember from my post a bit ago. She sent me my very first stash of sewing material too which I hold near and dear to my heart though I've yet to make anything using my sewing machine. Then she sent me little notes in the mail that totally would make my day on those random blah days we all seem to have. Never failed, on those days my secret sistah would drop me a message or I'd get a little note in the mail. Well yesterday I was just thinking, "I wonder if I should post a message on the sistah friends site pleading for the identity of my sistah who had made my first exchange experience so fun and enjoyable."
Wouldn't you know it, I open my e-mail and there is a gift certificate to KNIT HAPPENS from none other than my secret sistah! I don't know if it's uncouth to shout out the certificate amount but let me just say "you outdid yourself sistah, Thank you so much. I really appreciate it from the bottom, center, top, left, and right of my heart. :-)" I did the happy dance at work!
I am so grateful. I've got a billion ideas of what I want to buy and wouldn't you know this weekend they are having a sale on the whole store...am I in heaven? Is this what it will be like?
Thank you, thank you again. So much.

I'm just going to show you everything. I'm coming clean little by little.
This is what I got at Knitting Up a Storm by the way ( along w/ the Noro of course)....the stash has been greatly enhanced.

What? You can't tell how many skeins of Debbie Bliss I actually bought? Good. I like it that way. DON'T JUDGE ME!! :-) It was all on sale so I couldn't resist; for instance you see the $5.95 tag on the tweed? already a good price right? take not 20, 30, but 40% off- ...BTW, if you're ever in South Carolina I highly suggest stopping into Knitting Up a storm. The folks are extra friendly there and they have a great selection, fair pricing, good customer service, and a nice neat shop. My little sales lady even threw in these lovely samples after I asked a few questions about the products.
I like the idea of showing a representive skein. You know, the one skein that sits out to show people what the one million other skeins you bought the same day looks like. Somehow, I feel less guilty that way. Notice that none of these are the yarns I listed a couple of weeks ago on the shopping list:-( This is a sad fact yet lord knows I can't wait to shop for more.
Anyways, if seeing stash or seeing yarn makes you happy I'm thinking I am going to go on a stash flashing spree for a bit. Besides, there seems to be a few folks out there that can't be convinced that I am not totally a ghetto knitter. I believe some people even mentioned that maybe i should be the queen of my own "ghetto knitters" blog ring. I mean a gal might want to save a couple pennies sometime but sheesh, do I have to be "queen ghetto knit blogring hostess?"
Well. I guess we'll see about that.

I don't know if I told you but I decided to do a bodybuilding show. Actually, I'll be competing in the Fitness/Figure category (which is a little softer than female bodybuilding). I'm pretty excited and I have to admit that I have been extremely caught off guard by all the support and encouragement I've received from everybody. I don't know why I always expect to hear the worse from people. I was sure that everyone would say or at least think, "there's no way you can do that." I know that is bad to admit but I can't be the only one that thinks that way sometimes.
On the other hand I wonder why I am so surprised. Am I not the first one to usually support and cheer and encourage others on? Doesn't it make me the happiest to see people I love and care about acheive their goals or accomplish their dreams? Am I not usually my friends and family's biggest advocate? Why should I expect anything less from everyone else? Everyone I know and cherish personally is wonderful...shame on me for not knowing they would be supportive.
Most likely my apprehension and Negative Nancy-ness stems from my own insecurities and fears. Yes, I'm afraid that I won't cut the weight in time. Absolutely, I'm afraid that I may faulter or not acheive what I set out to do due to some craziness on my own behalf. Still, none of these fears can stop me from at least trying or at least reaching.
I'm about to get real personal with you guys over these next months, so beware. The competition is November 18th

I went on vacation to Myrtle beach, South Carolina. I know some of y'all are probably saying, "didn't you just come back from Hawaii?" Yup sure did, you can never have too much vacation though.
I went to Knitting up a Storm with my sister while I was down there. We had a blast and she taught me how to do the cast on for these.
Yes that is Noro but no it is not the Noro that I pictured ages ago that my sister gifted to me. It's new Noro that I bought at Knitting up a storm along with this Noro( no Janet your eyes are not deceiving you, the stuff below is not the stuff I bought with you, I actually went back the next day and got this and the tweed that I put back when I was with you but the mary janes pictured above are from the yarn we bought together;I know really bad but true.)
So now I'm working with 6 skeins (well actually 4ish since I'm actually making the one pair of Mary Janes) of Noro wool in my stash. I love that stuff. It is so beautiful, artistic even.
The set pictured above are a Christmas gift. I think I will knit one more set for another gift and then eventually a set for me--it's really easy now that I know how to cast on for it, then again I haven't done any of the finishing but the the finishing is crochet and if I don't say so myself I'm pretty beast at crochet...anyway, I've actually bought a lot of yarn but I just haven't been showing it off. I am in the mists of consolidating my stash, getting rid of the stuff I've had since I was a little girl and organizing it all. I will try to take more pics of what I've got as the process goes on. Before I went on vacation I did order my ball winder and swift. Today for the first time. I rolled my own balls of yarn with them. I had some lovely Lorna's laces Bullfrogs and butterflies (wool/mohair blend) in my stash that I balled up. This stuff was an impulse buy long ago because I love wool and the colors were just so beautiful. I have 380 yds of it so if y'all have any suggestions feel free to tell me. I've actually been thinking of doing a blanket with this yarn as the focal point in the middle and some other yarn as borders. Don't totally know about that though so ... Do tell.
O yeah, can you believe that there is another black purl who has a biracial family and is living in California-AND she knits? What are the odds? Can we say twilight zone, well at least for my sister that is. Anyway, I have some yarn on it's way to you if you're reading. Its some cheapy stuff that I've been carrying around for ages but haven't used. I hope this helps you with your charity work. I have it packaged up and ready to mail to you this week so look for it next week. I'm sure I'll blog about when I've mailed it off.